Official touts reliability record of Boutique Air

One of Boutique Airline’s Pilatus PC-12 airplanes, which carries passengers on the Grant County–Albuquerque Essential Air Service Route.

The operations director for Boutique Airlines discussed the company’s first quarter of service in Grant County Tuesday morning, and hinted at improvements to come in the future.

Matthew Butcher presented information on the airline’s reliability record and passenger service during a roundtable discussion sponsored by the Gila Economic Development Alliance. He told the crowd of community members, business professionals, and government leaders that Boutique Airlines has maintained a 99.7% completion rate for scheduled flights since it began operations earlier this year. Butcher said he was most proud of the fact that zero flights have been cancelled for maintenance issues or lack of a pilot.

“We’re going on four months, almost 800 flights,” he explained, “and we’ve only cancelled one round trip for weather.”

Data presented during the roundtable shows that Boutique completed 590 one-way trips during the first quarter of the year. According to Butcher, the company is flying “well above 600 passengers per month.”

Boutique was awarded an Essential Air Service contract by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation last year, and began making fights between the Grant County Airport and the Albuquerque Sunport on January 5. The EAS program subsidizes flights on certified airlines between rural areas and larger airports to make it easier for residents in those areas to travel.

While the EAS agreement stipulates service between Grant County and Albuquerque, Butcher said the company is receptive to community wishes regarding flights to Phoenix, Ariz. as well.

“We really want to do what the community needs and wants,” Butcher said. “We’re definitely flexible and open to flying to more cities.”

He said the likeliest scenario involved switching one of four current round-trip flights to Albuquerque to the Phoenix SkyHarbor airport.

Butcher also answered audience questions about Boutique’s service and pricing. He said the base price of a seat is $59 one-way, and that there are no additional fees for baggage, unattended minors or pet/service animal transportation (though the company does charge customers for certain snacks and alcoholic beverages during flights). The price per seat does vary depending on the number of passengers who have booked a flight. The first two seats are offered at the $59 price point. Every two seats after that see a price increase. The price does not fluctuate based on the date the flight is booked.

“You could show up today and it’s possible you’d get the $59 price,” Butcher explained.

Butcher said the best option for pricing is the company’s voucher program. Passengers can purchase a book of 10 or 20 tickets for a 10-percent discount off the base $59-per-ticket price. Those vouchers can then be used on any flight with an open seat, ensuring the lowest possible

One woman in the audience asked about the airline’s baggage policy, which generally restricts passengers to one carry-on bag and one personal item, with a combined weight of 35 lbs. Butcher said the flight envelope for fuel between Grant County and Albuquerque is pretty lenient, and that the company does not usually have to worry about the limits.

“We can accommodate large bags 99 percent of the time,” Butcher said.

In addition, he said passengers who know they will a larger number of bags or heavy bags can bring them to the airport in advance, and have those pieces flown to their destination on an earlier flight.

“We transported a couple of bikes yesterday,” Butcher added.

Butcher also told the audience that the company is working on agreements with regional and national carriers that would allow them to check bags directly onto and from connecting flights. Currently, passengers have to wait for their bag to be offloaded from Boutique’s plane, and then they must check it in with a connecting airline.